A stone unto the first, come up

that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two

Me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly and the Lord gave them unto me.-Deuteronomy x. 1-4.

THE

HE commandments which God wrote on the two tables which Moses prepared may be summed up in the two sentences, love to God, and love to our neighbour. We must love God with a love far beyond all other love. It must be purer, intenser, more spiritual. We are bound to God by holy ties, and by every possible manner of gift; we should be ready to give up everything for Him; we should be willing to bear anything, rather than grieve Him. Our love for God should be without measure or limit. Our love for God should be a growing love. Daily it should increase. It should grow through prayer, by the means of grace, by good works, by bear ing patiently what He appoints for us, and by dwelling on His love for us. Such love will beget in us love for our neighbour. Love for our neighbour does not come naturally, it comes from God. He plants it in our hearts, He nourishes it, and causes it to grow. This love to our neighbour should induce us to deny ourselves that we may aid him, not in temporal things only, but in spi. ritual things; to pray for him, to set a good example, to be ready to forgive, and forget injuries. If we would attain perfection in this law of love, we must be filled with the Spirit; we must lead spiritual lives; we must be guided wholly by God's grace, and listen to the faintest whisper of God's voice in our hearts. We must meditate on God's love for us, and examine ourselves to see whether we are indeed dwelling in His love,

ND now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require

His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?-Deuteronomy x. 12, 13.

FROM

ROM the creation of man to the present day God hath not left Himself without a witness to mankind. In the early time before the flood, the family of Seth, afterwards the family of Abraham, were the vehicles of divine instruction to mankind. Even in the darkest ages of this world's existence He did not leave man to his own desires. He gave him an undefiled law converting the soul, sure testimonies giving wisdom to the simple, and right statutes making glad the heart. He marked out his path, and revealed His Will. What is the sum and substance of this revealed Will, this religious morality, this righteousness which is of God? Hear it in beautiful simplicity from the mouth of the divinely-appointed lawgiver, "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul." This is what the Lord requifes, and our earnest desire should be to attain by every means in our power to this high standard which is here held up before us. This we can do by trying to embody the spirit of our religion in all we think, and do, and to transfuse its influence into our hearts and the hearts of all around us. We cannot do this in our own strength. It is too much for our weak powers. It becomes possible only through the Spirit's aid, and by setting before us the example of the only perfect man Christ Jesus. See how He acted towards the fatherless and the widow, how He kept Himself unspotted from the world. Let us make it our constant aim to walk in His most blessed footsteps, avoiding all appearance of evil, loving our God, and serving Him with all our heart and with all our soul.

JESUS took the loaves; and when He had given thanks,

He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.-John vi. 11-13.

JES

ESUS cares for both the soul and body. His first care, indeed, is for the soul. When He saw the multitudes He "began to teach them many things." He spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, He supplied them with the bread of life, He gave them food for their immortal souls. His way of dealing with the multitude here agrees with His words elsewhere," Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. There is a blessing in God's Word. They who love that Word, and search therein for the blessing, find it; but they who scorn the Word lose it. If only we cared more for our souls, we should not be so over careful about our bodies. We should find that God cared for them. After Jesus had satisfied the wants of the souls of the five thousand, He did not despise their bodies. In the same miraculous way in which He healed the sick and gave sight to the blind, He miraculously fed the multitude, and proved Himself the great Food-giver Who gives to all their meat in due season. Whilst He breaks the five loaves they increase under His hands, increase sufficiently to supply the wants of all and leave twelve baskets of fragments to be gathered up. Jesus does not distribute the bread Himself. He gives it to His disciples, and they distribute to the multitude; so now in His Church He uses human instruments, and distributes gifts and blessings through those whom He has appointed to be His ministers. The supply appears to be inexhaustible. The people receive "as much as they would." So it is with divine grace. There is no limit to it from above. It is a fountain whose waters fail not.

W

HEN thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.-Deuteronomy xviii, 14, 15,

HE Lord foretells the desire of the Israelites to have

used when making the demand. He knew well how easily led the children of Israel were, how easily influenced for good or evil by the example of others; and He knew that, notwithstanding their having been guided and governed by Himself as a perfect theocracy for so many years, they would, so soon as they saw how other nations were governed, cry out, "Make us a king, that we may be like all the nations." How similar is the cry of the Church in our own day. The Church of God, like Israel of old, ought to be a peculiar people, a distinct people, different in birth, different in nature, different in experience from all the world besides. But the aim of our time is to annihilate the distinction. We want to be "like the other nations.' When Israel did demand a king from Samuel, he was grieved, for he feared lest the request should provoke the Lord God to jealousy. We too may fear lest we provoke the Lord to anger, if, notwithstanding our increased light and knowledge, we desire to be as much as possible like the world. "Be not fashioned according to this world" is the injunction of the New Testament, "but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." What we should aim at is to be like Christ, not like the world. We should consecrate ourselves to the service of God, and not to the service of the world. We should live in closer communion with Heaven, and not strive to be "as all the nations that are about us." Oh, for more grace to so use this present world, that we may hereafter enter into life eternal!

AND ND the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My Name, I will require it of him.-Deuteronomy xviii. 17—19.

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HIS prophecy was in part fulfilled each time that a great teacher and prophet was raised up by God for the instruction, exhortation, and guidance of His people. It had its true and real fulfilment when Christ, the "Prophet of Nazareth," was born into this world. The Jews themselves had learned to apply it to their Messiah. They looked and longed for that Prophet "of Whom Moses in the law did write." He indeed was "like unto" Moses, like him in intimacy of communion with God, like him in being a founder of a new covenant, the giver of a new law, like him as being the head and guiding spirit of a new order of things. But He was a greater than Moses. The authority of the latter was limited, the authority of Christ was, like Himself, incomprehensible; the authority of Moses should cease, the authority of Christ is for all eternity. Moses delivered his people from a temporal bondage, Christ delivers His from a spiritual bondage. Him we must hear. St. Peter, when quoting this prophecy, shows the great danger of rejecting the Prophet now that He had indeed come. St. Stephen, who also quotes it, argues that just as the Jews of old rejected Moses, so their descendants rejected Him of whom Moses prophesied. The Jews refused to hearken, and God required it of them. Through eighteen centuries they have been experiencing the sad consequences of their unbelief. Shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? If we refuse to hearken to the Prophet, if we disregard or slight His mission, God "will require it of us." Oh, for more faith to believe in, more love to serve our great Prophet, Who has been raised up unto us like unto Moses !